






^\ 






■ CT 



,4 0. 



o J* 








*o . » * .0 



iv ^ 



s 



CT o°" 







vv 












► 




*o I 














I ^ 




> 


V 






















** •- 







• I ■> 






^ 






o » » 



,V 



"*^a*C« 



-"If 



*U* 




■ <v^v v^v v-^v 







^. 






L S-KW&teji 



TAYLOR MEETING. 



At a meeting of the citizens of Lexington and Fayette 
county, without distinction of party, held in pursuance of 
public notice, at the Court House, August 14th, 1847, George 
B. Kinkead, Esq., was called to the Chair, and Jesse Wood- 
ruff appointed Secretary. 

On motion, it was 

Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed to draft a Preamble and 
Resolutions, expressive of the sense of this meeting. 

Whereupon, the Chairman appointed the following persons 
on said Committee: — F. K. Hunt, John C. Breckinridge, 
E. K. Sayre, Esqs., Capt. Henry Johnson, and Col. S. D. 
McCullougii, who, after having retired for a few moments, 
returned and presented to the meeting the following Pream- 
ble and Resolutions: 

WHEREAS, The wishes of the people of a Republic, when uninfluenced by 

party considerations and ties, are always sincere, and purely for the good 

of the whole country; and, whereas, the choice by the people of the 

United States, of a President, is a matter of high moment to them; and, 

whereas, it is not only the privilege, but tiie bounden duty, of every good 

citizen to express his views on all proper occasions and in proper terms as 

to public men and public measures. Therefore — 

Resolved, That it is desirable that the next President of the United States 

be a man of ability, integrity and moderation, and at the same time acceptable 

to the great body of the people of the Union. 

Resolved, That this meeting deplores and disapproves of the excess of party 
feeling and violence which have separated the people of the United States, and 
that they believe that the true interest of the country will be promoted by 
elevating to the Presidency a man, who shall feel himself to be the President 
of the whole people, and not of a party, •• who will not be the candidate of any 
party, nor lend himself to party schemes." 

Resolved, That General ZACHARY TAYLOR possesses these qualifica- 
tions in an eminent degree, and, in the opinion of this meeting, will, if elected, 
discharge the duties pertaining to the Executive department of the Govern- 
ment, with honesty, sagacity and firmness, and contribute all the weight of 



L(d(c 



[ 2 ] 



liis great name, to (lie wise settlement of the new and momentous question! 
which are ubout to come before the country. Therefore, 

RKdoLVED, That this meeting, assembled without distinction of party, do 
nominate General ZACHARY TAYLOR to be the next President of the 
United States, and recommend similar nomination* by his friends throughout 
the State of Kentucky. 

Resolved, That this meeting recommend a Mass Meeting of the friends of 
1 ieneral Tayloii, without distinction of party, to assemble at the Court House, 
in Lexington, next County Court day, (September 13th,) and that a Committee 
of five be appointed to prepare and report an Address to said meeting, setting 
forth the propriety and importance of electing him to the Presidency. 

< )n motion, the Preamble and Resolutions were unani- 
mously adopted. 

Messrs. F. K. Hunt, John C. Breckinridge, E. K. Sayre, 
Henry Johnson and Sam'l. D. McCulxough were appointed 
the Committee to prepare the Address. 

On motion, G. B. Kinkeah, Esq., Chairman of the meeting, 
was added to the Committee. 

On motion, it was 

Resolved, That the city papers be requested to publish the proceedings ot 
this meeting. 

Resolved, That this meeting now adjourn. 

G. B. KINKEAD, Chairman. 
Jessb Woodruff, Secretary. 



In pursuance to said last mentioned resolution, a large 
number of the friends of General Taylor met at the Court 
House, on the 13th of September, 1817, and, on motion, 
Geo. H. Kinkead, Esq., resumed the Chair, and Sam'l. R. 
Bullock, Esq., was chosen Secretary. 

The Chairman then announced that the Committee had 
discharged their duty, and proceeded to read the following 



ADDRESS. 



PbLLOW-CiTIZSM8 ! 

The selection, by a free people, of the Chief Magistrate 
of their Republic, is the most solemn and important public 
act of their lives. It is a duty which they cannot discharge 
correctly without the purest patriotism, the calmest reason, 
md the most deliberate rellcction; for the very excellence of 



L 3 ] 

that form of government, is, that the people elect then- 
officers, and that the worthiest citizen will be chosen for the 
highest office. The President of the United States stands as 
the acknowledged head of the nation. Into his hands we 
commit the freest institutions under the sun, and the destiny 
of millions. Upon his character and qualities and temper, 
more, perhaps, than any particular line of policy, depend the 
character, welfare and prosperity of the people during, and 
even beyond, the period he is called to preside over them. 
It is a matter of moment then, to understand thoroughlv 
what should be the character, qualities and temper of a Presi- 
dent of the United States. 

He should be wise and good. He should have a habitual 
reverence for the Constitution. He should have a strong love 
of justice, with firmness enough to execute the laws on the 
one hand, and moderation enough to forbear the improper 
use of power on the other. He should have an enlarged 
capacity, which, forgetting localities and parties, finds its 
greatest enjoyment and highest rewards in doing good to the 
whole country. And, above all things, candor and truth and 
honesty, should be paramount with him to every other policy, 
and the very pillars of his administration. Under such a 
President, we should be a united and happy people at home, 
and respected abroad. Under a succession of them, our gov- 
ernment would be strengthened and perpetuated, and our 
history would be unparalleled. 

Our character and happiness as a people are thus intimately 
connected with the character of our Chief Magistrate. The 
lives of the Presidents of the United States is indeed the 
history of the people of the United States, and the impartial 
historian will immortalize in glory or infamy the one, as he 
finds cause to admire or condemn the other. As we rever- 
ence then the Constitution under which we have grown to 
greatness — as we cherish the prosperity of ourselves and our 
fellow-citizens — as we value the opinions of those who are to 
come after us, should we be anxious and careful at each 
returning period, to place above us a man whose life spent in 
the public service, without stain or reproach, will be a pledge 
that the Republic will be safe in his keeping. 

Such a man we do most sincerely believe General 
Zachary Taylor to be. 

For now nearly two years — since his first march on the 
Rio Grande, the eyes of the nation have been on him. It 
has watched every word he uttered — it has scanned every 



[ 4 ] 

movement lie bas made, as if to penetrate his entire char- 
acter. The Volunteer, as he returned to his family and 
friends, was eagerly pressed with inquiries as to his habits, 
his appearance, his dress, His conduct, the opinion of the 
soldiers about him. Everything indicated a feverish desire 
thoroughly to comprehend him. Before that period, re- 
markable man as he was, and as he was known to be by a 
few, the mass of the nation scarcely knew there was such a 
man: and it was not until the national flag was thought to 
be in danger in his hands, that men began to ask who he was. 
Their were those who knew that, as a youthful Captain, in 
the war of 1812, he had defended Fort Harrison with a hand- 
ful of men againflt a powerful Indian force, and that he had 
displayed, on that occasion, a self-possession and courage in 
the greatest emergency, that made his friends promise for 
him the first military rank, and procured from Mr. Madison, 
the then President, his promotion to a Brevet Majority — the 
firsl that had been procured during the war. In that first 
essay of his powers, they who had observed him, saw the 
qualities thai would sustain and bear him through the most 
trying difficulties to which he might be exposed. The soldiers 
ot that war will bear in mind the value of the services he 
then rendered to the frontier and infant settlements of Illi- 
nois and Indiana, and the impression that defence made on 
the nation. Throughout the remainder of the war Major 
Taylor did his duty at every post to which he was ordered. 
At its close, he retired, without ambition, to his farm in 
Kentucky, where he remained until he was called into service 
again in 181(5. In the discharge of his duties on the fron- 
tiers of the West and South West, lie was lost sight of by 
the public until he was ordered to Florida, in 1835, by Presi- 
dent Jackson, to suppress the hostile attempts of the Indians 
in that quarter. In that war, not supported by the pride of 
the nation — a war with fierce and scattered savages, in a 
country dismal with swamps, never did a commander have 
more need of all the qualities which distinguish true great- 
-patience, perseverance, unsleeping vigilence, heroic 
courage which could impart itself to his followers. And 
these Col. Taylor displayed loan extent that, under favorable 
circumstances, would have gained him immortality. But the 

nation scarcely knew thai we were at war, and bis own 

modesl Reports of bis fatigues and sufferings and dangers 
were scarcely heeded amid the loud clamours of politicians 
at home. With this ignorance of him then, no wonder the 



[ 5 ] 

bulk of the people grew anxious and uneasy when our little 
army, under his command, went down on the Mexican lines. 
No national honor could be gained or lost in a contest with 
the savages of the hammocks of Florida, but in a war with 
a neighboring and numerous nation, the eyes of Europe 
would be on us, and the national feeling was at once awakened 
as to the character of the man who was thus to be the rep- 
resentative of our skill and valor before the world. But 
rery soon the Battle of Palo Alto was followed by that of 
liesaca. de la Palma and Monterey and Buena Vista, and the 
eyes of the nation were fixed on his character. How purely 
w r hite it has shown under the intense scrutiny! With what 
brilliancy has he illustrated our arms! With what modesty 
has he announced the most signal and unexpected victories! 
Circumstances have brought out from partial obscurity, not 
changed that character. Less than two years have elapsed 
since the public mind was turned upon him, and within that 
brief period, he has so impressed himself on the nation, that 
his name has become familiar to it, and, from the soldier in his 
tent to the citizen in his cabin, it sounds like the name of a 
friend. 

Thus it is that the character of Gen. Taylor has been 
made known to the people of the United States. That he 
has discharged, with signal ability, the distinguished duties of 
his station, under trying circumstances, and beyond the warm- 
est hopes and most anxious fears of patriotism itself, cannot 
be doubted. Our nation has, without qustion, grown more 
glorious by his life and deeds. He has satisfied the ambition 
of a people confident of their strength and ability, familiar 
with bold and daring thoughts, and content with no ordinary 
achievements: and at this hour, were the hopes and honor of 
the Republic pledged on a single conflict, with her greatest 
enemy, from the sea-board to the frontiers he would, by 
almost a unanimous voice, be chosen as their commanding 
champion. 

But it is not because Gen. Taylor has conquered our ene- 
mies and brought home glory to the nation, and for this alone, 
that we think he is entitled to our highest consideration as a 
candidate for the Presidency of the United States. Other 
Generals have fought bravely and gained battles and crowned 
themselves and their country with glory, whose most brilliant 
achievements have displayed a temper and character wholly 
unfit for high civil trust. Selfishness and ambition will stimu- 
late to glorious deeds as strong as patriotism. Rashness in 
1 



[ 6 ] 

the battle Held will often win a more splendid triumph than 
the most accomplished experience and skill. It is not the 
victory won, nor the campaign sustained, but the qualities 
displayed in the one and the other that enable us to pronounce 
with certainty that he who has become renowned in the 
camp is to be trusted in the cabinet. 

We confess, that in our country, and under our form of 
government, with a Constitution that separates the President 
from the army in the held, and with a strong national feeling 
against a standing army, we do not feel forcibly the objections 
to a military man lor President. The elements of true 
greatness are the same every where. Their nature is not 
changed or their {tower lost by a change of the theatre 
of their action. General Washington, at the head of the 
nation as President, was the same great man as at the head 
of the army. He had need of, and he summoned to his aid, 
the same qualities in the one department as the other — the 
same quick insight into the character of men — the same 
energy and concentration of purpose — the same fortitude, the 
same, forbearance, the same patriotism. The nation who had 
seen these high qualities in the camp, knew that he would 
bring them with him into the councils of the government, 
and in this pledge they trusted him. If the long and trying 
war for Independence had not brought out and strengthened 
his virtues, they must have remained unknown. High and 
noble natures indeed appear only in great emergencies; and 
while we deplore it as among the heaviest national calamities, 
still, in the career of life, no theatre is so grand and ample 
lb]- their display as that which is thrown open by war. In 
its shifting scenes, there is not a noble passion of our nature 
which cannot find its free scope and exercise. 

Gen. Taylor is entirely a military man, aud the inquiry 
presents itself, has he displayed it) the camp and on the held 
of battle, the qualities necessary for success in the civil de- 
partment of the government. We think he has. 

Me has spent near forty years of his life in the service of 
Lis country — -part of the time, in duties so arduous, and in 
i lim lies so unhealthy, that it is almost a marvel that he hai 
ped with his lii'e. During that whole period, every cam- 
paign he has sustained, every battle he has fought, from the 
defence of Port Harrison, in 1^1:2, to the crowning victory 
at Buena Vista, in IS 17, bears witness to his wonderful 
ry and perseverance, to the Wisdom of his plans, to his 
knowledge of men, to his fortitude, patience and humanity. 



[ 7 ] 

and to the absence of all selfish and unholy ambition. By his 
merit alone he has risen from a Lieutenancy to the head of 
an army. In his career upward, he has commanded the 
respect and affection of all who were above and all who were 
below him, while he has been strictly obedient to the laws 
and to the constitution. He has never attempted any thing 
without orders, and has never failed to do what he was 
ordered. As no adversity could depress him, so no prosperity 
has dazzled him. We have seen the whole nation alarmed 
with fear at his desperate condition, and then maddened with 
joy at his brilliant deliverance, while he alone has maintained, 
through both, an equal mind. The power of the army seems 
to have no charms for him, except, as it enabled him to exer- 
cise the lofty virtues of his nature. A soldier by profession, 
and by a long life in the service, he has yet lost none of the 
kindlier feelings of the man, and in his last great battle, 
while, the carnage raged around him, and while it was yet 
uncertain on whose standard victory would light, humanity 
asserted her claim and a white flag spared the lives a broken 
column of the treacherous enemy. He has rendered the 
most essential service to the nation, and yet is content with 
the satisfaction and glory of having discharged his duty, 
whatever obstacles might lie in the way. He has obtruded 
no claim on the country, or sought no occasion beyond the 
line of duty to make his name illustrious in the eyes of the 
world, and the Republic has never promoted him without 
feeling herself honored in honoring him. He must be a 
patriot, who gives his life to the service of his country. He 
must be great, who succeeds always in great undertakings. 
He must be just, whom no man reproaches. He must be 
good, whom no man accuses. He can't be ambitious, who 
aims at nothing but his duty. 

These are the qualities which make us recommend Gen. 
Taylor to your consideration as a candidate for the Presi- 
dency of the United States. With these, he can need no 
other to make him as renowned in civil, as he has made him- 
self in military life. 

In looking at the present position of General Taylor 
in connection with that high office, two facts present them- 
selves prominently before us, both likening him to General 
Washington, and both distinguishing him from all others 
who have been elevated to it. 

The first is, that he has not sought the Presidency, but the 
people have sought him out for it. 



[ 8 ] 

In a letter to La Fayette on the subject of the Presidency, 
Ukx. Washington said: "Should circumstances render it in 
a manner inevitably in the affirmative, be assured, my dear 
sir, I should assuma ihe task with the most unfeigned reluc- 
tance, and with a real diffidence, for which I shall probably 
receive no credit from the world," and the sentiment is re- 
peated again and again, in his correspondence. 

In his lei tor to Mr. Wilcox, General Taylor says: 
" I can say, in all sincerity, 1 have no aspirations for the Presi- 
dency, and if I am o candidate, or to be one, it must be 
recollected, I am, or will be made so by others, and by no 
agency of mine in the matter." 

The second is, that he refuses to come under any pledge 
what he will do, if elected, except, that he will obey the con- 
stitution and act honestly. 

General Washington, in view of the probability of being 
called to the Presidency, said: "Should it become absolutely 
necessary for me to occupy the station in which your letter 
presupposes me, I have determined to go into it perfectly 
free from all engagements of every nature whatsoever." 
General Taylor says: "If ever 1 fill that high office, it must 
be untrammelled with party obligations or interests of any 
kind, and under none but those which the constitution and 
the high interest of the nation at large, most seriously and 
solemnly demand." And it is somewhat remarkable, that it 
is on this latter point, a point on which he is supported both 
by the example and precept of so renowned a patriot, that 
objections are urged by some presses and politicians in the 
United States, against General Taylor for the next Presi- 
dency. Fortunate, indeed, is he, when no other fault is found 
in him than that he lays down a rule for his conduct, hallowed 
by the Father of his Country, and without which, that sacred 
name never could have been deserved or gained. It was no 
momentary impulse that dictated this line of conduct to Gen. 
Washington. He knew the power of party, and the danger 
of his being made its slave. It was the result of his dcliber- 
ate convictions before he entered upon the duties of his 
civil station. Eighl years of administration only strength- 
ened and confirmed him in his original opinions. In his 
farewell address to the people of the United States — a docu- 
ment precious with truths of vast importance, and more pre- 
cious with the affections thai inspired them, he forewarned 
them in the following earnest language: 

"Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn 



[ 9 ] 

you in the most solemn manner, against the baneful effects 
of the spirit of party generally. 

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, 
having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. 
It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or 
less stifled, controlled, or repressed, but in those of the pop- 
ular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their 
worst enemy. 

The alternate domination of one faction over another, 
sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissen- 
sions, which in different ages and countries, has perpetrated 
the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But 
this leads, at length, to a more formal and permanent des- 
potism. The disorders and miseries which result, gradually 
incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the 
absolute power of an individual, and sooner or later, the 
chief of some prevailing faction, more able, or more fortunate 
than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of 
his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty. 

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind, 
(which, nevertheless, ought not to be entirely out of sight,) 
the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party, 
are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise peo- 
ple to discourage and restrain it. 

It serves, always, to distract the public councils, and 
enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the commu- 
nity with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms — kindles the 
animosity of one party against another — foments occasional 
riot and insurrection, 'it opens the door to foreign influence 
and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the gov- 
ernment itself, through the channels of party passion. Thus 
the policy and will of one country, are subjected to the policy 
and will of another. 

There is an opinion, that parties in free countries are use- 
ful checks upon the administration of the government, and 
serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This, within certain 
limits, is probably true; and in governments of a monarchial 
cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with iavor, 
upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular char- 
acter, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be 
encouraged. From their natural tendencies, it is certain 
there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutory 
purpose, and there being constant danger of excess, the 
effort ought to be by force of public opinion, to mitigate and 



[ io ] 

assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform 
vigilance to prevent its bursting into flame, lest, instead of 
warming, it should consume." 

The anxious apprehension of General Washington, though 
not in their ultimate consequences, are fully felt amongst us, 
and no man can tell when his worst fears may be realized, 
unless that spirit is checked by a timely and correct public 
sentiment. With what truth does he portray its engrossing 
nature. It has gained the entire ascendancy in the Legisla- 
tive department of the National Government. It has forced 
the Executive to become obedient to it. It has to make but 
one more step to subject to its power the Judiciary, and then 
the whole Government becomes a prey to a dominant fac- 
tion — a condition worse than the worst monarchy. 

It would seem by the form of his election, and by the duties 
assigned to him, that the framers of the constitution intended 
to keep the Executive as free as the Judiciary from the influ- 
ence of party. His is not the department that rightfully 
directs the policy of the country; that belongs to the Legis- 
lature. It is his place to suggest to Congress information of 
the public state, to appoint to office, and to execute the laws 
which Congress enacts. When he places himself at the head 
of a party, in the political contests which divide the country, 
when he looks to the strength and combination of the friends 
who fight under him, to lift him to the first place of the na- 
tion, when hopes of success, with all its honors and powers, 
binds him to those friends, and alienates him from those he 
now deems his enemies, he wholly unfits himself to take 
charge of the interest of the nation, and to administer their 
government with justice. 

You, nor we, nor the millions, have any expectation or 
hope of any individual particular advantage by the elevation 
of any man to the Chief Magistracy of the Union. We 
should seek for no office or favor at his hands, and should 
expect none. But we love the land where our eyes first saw 
the light of day; we love the institutions which our fathers 
fought for and transmitted to us. We can have no interest 
hut to see that land covered with a happy and thriving peo- 
ple, and to transmit those institutions unimpaired and pure to 
our posterity. We look not for the honors of the Republic, 
but we have an interest that every office should be filled with 

the best men of the nation, and not with the slaves of faction. 

We ma) err or be misled in our conclusions on questions of 

policy; but we cannot be deceived that an honest man will 



[ n ] 

be true to the constitution and to the nation, and that we 
will be safe with every thing that is dear to us, in his 
hands. 

Fellow-citizens, politicians, designing and selfish, who hope 
to ride on the storm they raise — a corrupt press which derives 
its support from the bad passions it awakens against your 
neighbors, will urge you to abandon a man in whose elevation 
they will sink into insignificance. They will tell you he can't 
be a patriot who goes for the whole country and not for a 
part. They will denounce the man who prefers the good of 
the country to their good, who tells them plainly that he will 
have nothing to do with them, and that he will consent to be 
the candidate for the Presidency, only at the call of the peo- 
ple. It is a high and noble stand that old veteran hero has 
taken before the world. Not on the frontiers of the West, 
not in the swamps of Florida, not in the gorges of Mexico, 
no, never did he present himself so sublime a man, as when 
flinging from him the puny and miserable demagogues who 
hastened to hang about his skirts, he proclaimed that he 
would keep himself free from the dominion of factions and 
parties, and be the President of the nation, or else not be 
President at all. We are on the verge of a contest with fac- 
tious politicians on the one side, and the people on the other. 
Fellow-citizens, we call upon you to break the bands which 
have bound you, which have made you forget the country for 
your party, and the good of the nation for the success of 
your leaders. Call to mind that you are brethren, with a 
common country and a common destiny. That destiny is at 
your bidding. Rally to your place beneath the standard of 
the only man in the Union, who has dared to declare himself 
independent of politicians and factions, and who refuses the 
highest office in the world, except at your hands. 

GEORGE B. KINKEAD. 
HENRY JOHNSON. 
SAM'L. D. McCULLOUGH. 

E. K. SAYRE. 

F. K. HUNT. 

JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE. 

On motion, the Address was unanimously adopted, with a 
request that the Frankfort Commonwealth, Louisville Journal, 
and Courier, Cincinnati Chronicle, and the papers generally 
throughout the Union, friendly to the election of Gen. Tay- 
lor, be requested to copy it. And, at the suggestion of Robt. 



[ 12 ] 

WiCKUFFE,Sr., a thousand copies were ordered to be printed 
in pamphlet form for distribution. 

On motion of Henry Johnson, Esq., the Chair was direct- 
ed to appoint an Executive Committee to correspond with 
similar Committees friendly to Gen. Taylor. And, there- 
upon, M. C. Johnson, Esq., Hon. A. K. Woolley, Henry 
Johnson, Esq., Sam'j- R. Bullock, Esq., and F. K. Hunt, Esq., 
were appointed said Committee. 

On motion, the meeting then adjourned. 

GEO. B. KINKEAD, Chairman. ' 
S. R. Bullock, Secretary. 



Scrughaui &. Dunlop, Printers, Lexington. 



146 



>bv B 




v*Cr 




1 *° *t+ *•»• <V 9* *•«*' 













* • • • /• **^ 






" • < 



o . . *£_ 















<y *t\ 



v 






V 









Nft, 






°* 



. 



oTo 1 



^ 



